Ten ADD Organizing Principles

Friday, April 27, 2012 Leave a comment

NOT Your Mama’s Organization

As I began in an earlier post (ADD & Organized?) . . .

Yes, even YOU can learn to be organized –
JUST AS SOON AS YOU UNDERSTAND
the REASONS why you’ve been stopped in the past.  

HERE’S the KICKER: it’s a different mix of stoppers for every single one of us.  

If you don’t understand how YOU work, you’ll never be able to determine what YOU need to do to to keep from spending half your life looking for things that were “right here a minute ago” – and the other half tripping over dirt and detritus.

So much for helpful hints and tidy lists!  

That said, I’m going to go w-a-a-y out on a limb by offering ten ADD organizing principles that I call, collectively, The ADD Organizaing Manifesto — a summary of some basic concepts that need to be embraced and understood if you want to have a shot at working out what YOU need to do for YOU to be organized.

In future posts in this series, I’ll expand on some of the points below.
For NOW, print ‘em out and hang ‘em up!

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Nine Challenges: What Are They?

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 3 Comments

Isolated Understanding Must Come First

Graphic of a surprised man pointing to the presentation of a graph that takes a sharp downturn

The Challenges Inventory™ is composed of nine separate elements — Challenges — designed to target specific areas which are particularly problematic for most human beings.

The specific combination of particular challenges make up a client’s Challenges Profile – a visual snapshot of implementation in the nine key areas relative to each other. 

When we recognize and understand the impact of the relationship between these “underachieving” parts of our lives, we can better use each category to our ADVANTAGE rather than to our detriment, creating positive change in our lives.

The real power of The Challenges Inventory™ comes from understanding each of the nine Challenges individually as well as their impact  together, which will tell you how to translate the scores into information your can use in your LIFE.

It is the understanding of how to sherlock the particular relationship between the scores that will provide the information you need to develop the systems that will be effective with YOUR individual Challenges Profile — so that you can begin immediately to prioritize a path of development that works with your strengths and avoids areas of significant challenge.

AND YET, we must begin at the beginning.

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NINE Challenges to Effective Functioning

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Part II of a 2-part article (click HERE to read Part I)

From The ADD Lens™

It’s NOT a Secret –

It is a misunderstanding of how it all works to believe that “thinking positively” is ALL you have to do to attract the success you deserve.

  • Faith without appropriate action is sallow.  
  • Appropriate action is YOU-based, what you must do to manifest your dreams.
  • The genesis of creation comes from Spirit, BUT 
  • Here on the physical plane, we are equally bound by the laws of the physical.
  • Were it not so, we would not find ourselves walking on firmament in a body equipped with a brain.

The more you understand how your physical apparatus is designed,
the better you will be able to actuate your desires on the physical plane.

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Sherlocking ADD Challenges

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Part I of a 2-Part Article

A cartoon rendering of a Sherlock Holmes character looking through a magnifying glass, pipe in mouth -- a bubble pipe!Investigating Winners

I had always been determined to be a winner in this game called life, but I was struggling.

I worked as hard or harder than anyone else, I seemed to have more talents and abilities than many, and I got more than my share of lucky breaks.

But somehow there was always something that fell apart before I could reach that finish line called SUCCESS. Since I couldn’t predict it, I couldn’t prevent it.  It was driving me nuts!

I spent most of my thirties in therapy in an attempt to figure it out, to no avail. I tried on every diagnosis anybody threw at me (I wouldn’t wanna’ be resistant, right?).  None of them felt right.  I just knew there had to be something else.


  • Nope, not fear of failure or success.
  • Nope, not low self-esteen or self-sabotage.
  • No way I’m passive/aggressive or manic/depressive (now called BiPolar).
  • Well, sure I’m depressed – wouldn’t you be if your life kept falling apart no matter how hard you tried to keep it together?

On and on and on with the list that I’m sure anyone reading this article will find all too personally familiar: including anything and everything but the one thing that would make the difference in my life.

When I was 38 years old – another lifetime, it seems, now over two decades later – I learned about Attention Deficit Disorder.  Finally!  Now that I had a name for what was “wrong” with me, I wasn’t going to let a little thing like ADD stop me.

So what do I DO about it? I asked the doctor who agreed with my self-diagnosis. What do you MEAN, nobody knows?  THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!!

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ABOUT Impulsivity

Monday, July 18, 2011 5 Comments

Cartoon of a screaming person falling, dangling by one leg to a tie rope.

Risk, Reward & Impulsivity

Managing the gap between impulse and action

Many professionals agree that “impulsivity” is one of the most confusing of the official terms in the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, updated and published by the American Psychological Association).

The confusion is especially problematic because impulsivity is one of the diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficits.  The biggest source of confusion is linguistic.

The term “impulsivity” is unfortunate.

So many concepts are implied by the root word “impulse” that, even once we identify impulsivity as an area that needs to be managed, it’s really tough to figure out how to do it — or even what’s involved.

The truth is, we are ALL are at the effect of “impulsivity.”  Impulses drive the conscious actions that contribute to much of our forward progress.  Even “instincts” are driven from impulses – the only real difference is that those impulses are below the level of consciousness.

Another biggie among the ADD problems is activation.

What IS activation, if not an impulse.

Murkier and murkier, this examination toward clarification!

Okay, let’s not get into semantic discussions that split hairs. Individuals will be considered “impulsive” only when impulse leads to action without a pause for thought.  That works, right?

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ABOUT The Challenges Inventory™

Monday, July 18, 2011 Leave a comment

A Snapshot of Your Functional Profile

Graphic of a grid on which an arrow traces downward progressThe unique relationship of NINE functional Challenges in YOUR life!

Discover the extent to which your
Challenges Profile is making life difficult:
unique-to-you categories-combinations where understanding can lead to prediction, which can skyrocket an upside down profile!

Once someone has been diagnosed with ADD, it is especially useful to have a snapshot of their particular functioning.

Although each of the challenges are difficult to some extent for most human beings as well as most ADDults, the degree to which each challenge causes trouble RELATIVE to the remaining eight Challenges — and how to approach change and growth — is quantified in a Challenges Profile.  Woo hoo!

Quantification provides a MAP to assist ADDer, client, coach, parent, teacher, or any individual who will take the time to understand what they are looking at, that enables them to strategize progress steps — focusing effort and activity so that evidence of success very quickly replaces evidence of failure.
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ABOUT Distractions

Monday, July 4, 2011 2 Comments

NOTE: If you have not read The Dynamics of Attending, the article below will have greater impact if you do that first.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————- 

Monkey Minds – The Dilemma of Distractability

A cartoon monkey climbing a tree trunk, attention elsewhere - obviously distracted

All distractions are interruptions, but
all interruptions are NOT distractions.

An interruption is a momentary disturbance in the projected flow of a physical or mental activity that creates a break in continuity for a relatively brief interval.

Inherent in the definition is the assumption that concentration will return to the interrupted activity, if appropriate, implying that the control of one’s focus is volitional – a factor of the “will-power” of the individual who has been interrupted.

A distraction, on the other hand, is a disruption of an individual’s concentrated attention upon a chosen object of focus. The distinction between the two otherwise similar events is that a distraction is intrusive: it prevents effective operation of the first and third of the three Dynamics of Attending:

  • focusing on the intended object
    and 
  • sustaining the focus. 

As long as the second dynamic – shifting focus at will – operates efficiently, “one quick interruption” remains so.  Most people can get back on track effectively as long as the “distracting” event is not pervasive or repetitive.

Ay, there’s the rub!

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ABOUT Black and White Thinking

Monday, July 4, 2011 4 Comments

The Challenge of Gray –

from Black and White to Balance

Black and white yin-yang symbol

  • A or F
  • Perfect or worthless
  • All or nothing
  • Good or bad
  • White or black

Perfectionism and Black & White Thinking can turn a bright, shiny day into a thunderstorm!

One of the Nine Challenges (from my Challenges Inventory™), it is an area that will be explored in one of the eBooks in my upcoming eBook Series.

ADDers seem to fall into the black and white thinking trap more than most.

Maybe it is because we have heard it levied against us so often in our lives.

  • Why can’t you ever be on time?
  • You always interrupt me!
  • You are the messiest person I have ever known!

Such NONSENSE!

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Symptoms of Attentional Struggles

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Leave a comment

Part 4 in the Intentional Attending series of posts – As I said in Part 3 (The Dynamics of Attending), one of the goals of ADD Coaching is to identify areas where our clients can improve on the intentional direction of attentive awareness.
—————————————————————————————————————————————— 

A man n a white lab coat stands behind a counter staring at beakers of various colored liquids, a bit dazed andperplexed

Dynamic Difficulties

Problems with any or all phases of The Dynamics of Attending are at the very heart of the ADD characteristics.

That is why many ADDers struggle to have much of a life beyond the all-too-familiar “mess it up, clean it up” cycle.

ADDers typically have impairments in at least one of the Dynamics, often all three in combination, which dominoes into problems with the  registration, linking and retrieval stages of the memory process.

However, every single person living
has problems with each of the Dynamics of Attending
in some situations at some times –
which means they struggle with:
#1  - Focusing on the Intended Object and/or
#2  - Sustaining the Focus, and/or
#3  - Shifting Focus at Will

A few of the ways those occasional “mind blips” show up in our behavior provide very funny stories - afterwards. Unfortunately, some of them (or too many of them) lead others to conclude that we are not reliable and can’t be trusted — and to lead us to doubt our own talents and abilities as well.

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The Dynamics of Attending

Monday, June 27, 2011 2 Comments

Part 3 in the Intentional Attending Series of Posts – As I said in Part 2, Brain Waves, Scans and ATTENTION –  One of the goals of ADD Coaching is to identify areas where our clients can improve on the intentional direction of attentive awareness.

The ADDCoach.com™ Favorite Model of Attention

A small man in the foreground watches fearfully while a larger one in the background juggles planets, both in the clouds, surrounded by worlds.Problems Juggling the Elements of our Worlds

Similar to Sylwester’s three-part model of attention (described in the prior article of the Intentional Intending Series of posts), I, too, favor a three-part portioning of the attentional pie.

I have found it more useful from an ADD Coaching perspective to focus my own study and observation of attention on the tasks involved in three “sub-domains” of a particular area of  the Sohlberg/Mateer model: selective attention.

I refer to these three domains or sub-divisions, collectively, as

The Dynamics of Attending:

    1. Focusing on the Intended Object
    2. Sustaining the Focus
    3. Shifting Focus at will

Underlying each of the Dynamics is the same impaired element of cognition common to all of the Executive Functioning Disorders: VOLITION.

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Expectations Mismatches & Moon Men

Friday, June 24, 2011 2 Comments

 Frustrated expectations are difficult to overcome.

Black and white sketch of a full moon with a grouchy face

“You do something right ONCE and they
hold it against you for the rest of your life!”
~ Mel Levine

One of the complaints you often hear about ADDers is that our cognitive and functional abilities are erratic.

In posts to come, I will share with you what I have discovered about WHY that it so: why our behavior seems so unpredictable, and what we can do to change that perception.

I would like to introduce you to some of the theories and concepts that underlie the manner in which I work with Executive Functioning Deficits of all types — a way that allows you to put the pieces together so that you understand what you need to DO to be able to drive your own brain – without the constant fear that it will break down on the road!

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TYPES of Attentional Deficits

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Leave a comment

Drawing of a brown-skinned man in a hat, walking through a shallow body of water, cat-tails growing in the background. He is about to be surprised by a crocodile because 100% of his attention is on a book in front of his face: Safety Tips.Attentional Deficits: Three Biggies

While ALL attentional deficits are, strictly speaking, neurological events – meaning that they are marked by changes in the pattern of brain waves and the location of area doing the work – it is useful to think about them in three separate categories:

  1. Physical
  2. Neurological
  3. Situational

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Filed under A1a. Executive Functioning Disorders, A2a Your ADD Treatment Team, A5a. Attention & Focus, ADD | ADHD | Attention Deficit Disorder, G5b. The Challenges Inventory™, G5d. Intentional Attending, H. Brain Based Coaching/Training Tagged with , , , , , , ,

ADD & Organized?

Sunday, June 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Organization for ADDers is NOT Pipe Dream

Drawing of a man popping out of the top drawer of a file cabinet, holding a file, with a self-satisfied smile on his faceYes, even YOU can learn to be organized –
JUST AS SOON AS YOU UNDERSTAND
the REASONS why you’ve been stopped in the past.  

Here’s the kicker: it’s a different mix of stoppers for every single one of us.  If you don’t understand how YOU work, you’ll never be able to determine what YOU need to do to to keep from spending half your life looking for things that were “right here a minute ago.”

So much for helpful hints and tidy lists!  

That said, what follows is an Organizing Overview summarizing concepts that need to be embraced and understood if you want to have a shot at working out what YOU need to do for YOU to be organized.

In a series of articles to follow, I will “unpack” the list and explain the concepts.  FOR NOW, reflect on the list itself, and stay tuned for articles to follow.

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Filed under A5f. Organization & Task Completion, G5b. The Challenges Inventory™, G5l. Organization & Task Completion, G7. STUFF - and Nonsense! Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Listening for Time Troubles

Sunday, May 15, 2011 Leave a comment

Illustration of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland - RUSHINGTroubles with Time and Follow-Through

Most ADDers have trouble with T-I-M-E.  We run out of it, we are continually surprised by it, and we sometimes seem to be completely unaware of it.

All ADD Coaches worthy of the term must remain aware that Listening For your client’s awareness of time and their relationship to time (yes, they do have one!) almost always involves some serious sleuthing on the part of the coach!.

The Following Exercise is designed to help ADD Coaches sharpen their Listening FROM Skills

Not a coach?  That’s OK – answer the questions below for yourself.  The information will be useful to you in a Peer Coaching relationship [click HERE if you don't have one of those].  Your functioning insights will be valuable even without an outside observer, but it might be difficult to sherlock in real time or to actuate changes.  Do it anyway.

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Filed under A5. Tips, Tricks & Techniques, A5c. TimeSteps™, B. Coaching Concerns, B1. ADDCoach Terms & Tools, B2. Working with an ADD Coach, B2a. Mentor Coaching, ADD Style, G2. Rewrite Your Coaching Manual, G3. ADD Coaching Secrets, G5b. The Challenges Inventory™ Tagged with , , , , , ,

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